Elegy
by undertakenheart
Summary: We had a simple mission. Infiltrate the island, get the schematics for the terrorist weapon, and get out. Now I'm wondering whether or not we're out of our league. [Warnings: Implied SasuNaru, character death(s)]
1. Chapter 1

I could see it in the distance. The air was cool, a little drizzle settled over our boat, but I could still clearly see the island. There were a large number of boats littering the shore. Ranging from makeshift canoes to large steamboats.

Even with all of the boats, there weren't any signs of civilization. From what I could see, there were no buildings, no people, not even evidence of an old campfire. I looked over at my teammates to gage their reactions.

My beautiful teammate across from me wore her confusion. Her intelligent green eyes scanned the area as we drew closer to our destination. "Where are the-?" She was cut off by a clap of thunder. Suddenly the light drizzle became heavy rain.

Our leader and mentor, Kakashi, turned to head into the small cabin on our steamboat, his white hair looking dark grey as it got soaked. The rest of us followed suit, not wasting a second once we found shelter to look back at the island.

I noticed movement on my right. My other teammate walked over to the small desk to gaze at the map. "This is where the terrorist cell is located?" His deep, skeptical voice rung out into the darkness.

Kakashi joined him and sat down before flicking his fingers to light a candle. "It would appear so, Sasuke. The Gondaime was adamant they were constructing a dangerous weapon."

The lone female showed her worry. I could see why she was so concerned. We usually infiltrated buildings. We didn't have much available for camping and it looked like we'd need it.

"Don't worry Sakura, we're just looking for information. We'll be in and out in no time," I reassured. She looked over at me with a light smile before turning back to the front of the boat to see that we weren't far from landing.

"I'm not scared, idiot. I'm just…concerned." Her folded arms tightened around her chest before she released her breath. "You'd think that for such an imminent threat, they'd be more developed. Either that or they know we're coming."

"Let's hope that's not the case."

There was a sudden jolt in our boat. Collective thuds could be heard when we all slammed on the far wall in the shelter. I could feel heat to the right of me and saw that the right of the boat caught fire.

"Come on, get out!" Kakashi pushed us through the opening to get back on deck. The shelter and back of the boat was catching on fire.

"I got it!" Sakura ran out into the water and chakra streamed some of it onto the boat. She was actually doing pretty good. I could see improvements since she got trained by the Gondaime.

"You're doing great, Sakura!" I shouted out. As if to curse us, another bolt of lightning hit the back of the boat, sending Sakura flying in the opposite direction.

I couldn't think, just dove in to save her. Under the water, I searched for her body. She struggled to get her feet under her before she propelled her way to the top. We breached the surface just when Kakashi and Sasuke leaped into the water.

Not too far away from us, we watched as the entire boat was engulfed in flames before it slowly sank into the ocean.

"Since when does lightning strike the same place twice? And not a moment later?" We all looked at Sasuke. We couldn't agree more.

Our mentor got to his feet above the water and led the way to the shore.

* * *

Sakura wrung her hair out as she gazed out to where our boat had been just moments ago. "How are we getting back?"

"We'll worry about that once the mission's complete." Kakashi squeezed a rolled up document, "For now, we need to set up camp."

He handed me the parchment. "You and Sasuke go inland 3 miles and return here. Use the stars as your guide since we don't have a map of the island."

"What're we looking for?" It seemed like an appropriate question before my partner puffed out.

"Probably food, wood, and people. It would be best if we made sure we were at least safe for the night." Well, sorry I asked. I wish the others would come to my rescue before I got a snotty response from him.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head, I knew he was tired of us, "Sakura and I will search these boats. Maybe they'll have camping supplies. Maybe we can camp out in one. We just need to make sure they're green."

"Why these pairings?" I mumbled but I knew he'd hear me. I knew I promised the Gondaime to keep animosity to a minimum but being alone with Sasuke wasn't helping.

"Sasuke and I can create fire," he stated it like it was obvious, "It wouldn't do us any good if we had two unbalanced teams. It'll only be for an hour, Naruto." He gazed up at Sasuke before turning away, Sakura following him, to the furthest boat.

I huffed before looking up at him. He looked like he wanted to say something, something spiteful, but decided against it. "Let's go, dobe. We want to keep the concealment of night." I rolled my eyes before begrudgingly following him.

The ground underneath went from sand to mud as we moved further inland. He had two fingers extended from his hand while fire danced above them. A quick glance over at his face and I noticed he had his family trait active. I focused my chakra to extend my senses further with the help of the hidden beast.

I gathered wood whenever we came to a stop and he gathered any edible plants. I remember when I teased him about taking that as an extracurricular course back at the academy. At the time, it sounded so dull and pointless since we were trained in espionage, not camping. Guess I should've bit my tongue back then.

Most of our trek was done in silence. We both knew we weren't in immediate danger, we just didn't have anything to talk about. Well, I guess I shouldn't say that. We have things to talk about but it will most likely escalate into exchanging insults, an argument, or even a fight.

About two miles in, we were running out of pocket space and my hands were getting one to many splinters.

"Let's head back out. I'm sure we'll be set for at least a few days with what we've found." I nodded in agreement and we silently turned back.

"It's nice how quiet you've been. Didn't think it was possible."

"I made a promise."

He side eyed me before looking forward again. "Is that the only way you can be mature, if someone has you promise that you will."

"No asshole, I'm trying to make the only family I have proud." He stopped walking and I brushed past him, "Maybe you should try it sometime."

"You know I don't have a family."

"It doesn't take blood to be family. My parents are dead too, you don't see me acting like you."

"Like what?" His eyes seemed to glow brighter. I knew I was just one word away before things got messy.

"Whatever." I heard him start walking again.

I'm sure the last thing Kakashi and Sakura wanted for dinner were mushed berries.

I finally guided us back to the shore. I set up the sticks and Sasuke quietly lit them on fire. Kakashi and Sakura hadn't arrived back yet. No need to worry though, we did come back early.

I eyed Sasuke distributing what he found. This was ridiculous. After three years of knowing each other and accepting that we'd be on this team until we were jounin, we were still hostile towards each other. It's not like I want us to be this way. It can't be healthy for the team.

But whenever I look at him, it just doesn't seem like he cares. Obviously not about me, but not about Sakura or Kakashi or the team. It's like he has his feelings suspended above his head. For a long time, I just thought he was level headed but no…the guy was just emotionless.

Maybe that's why I can't stand him. Maybe that's why I can't stand that Sakura likes him. Maybe that's why I can't stand how people worship him.

"Is there a problem?" He was sitting casually back on a log that wasn't there moments ago. I looked away from him to see that four logs surrounded our campfire. I joined him on the ground and looked away.

"No teme, I was just thinking."

"First time?"

"Is the only thing you care about is how to insult me?"

"I don't have to put in the effort." He reached behind him and added another stick to the fire. "What's wrong?"

Whoa, 'What's wrong?' is much more hospitable than 'Is there a problem?' I knew he could see how confused I was. I looked away before he read too much into my expression. I wore my emotions on my sleeve.

"Nothing." He didn't press it any further.

"We were able to find bed sheets and pillows for all of us. Sadly no tents," Sakura announced as she and Kakashi approached our new found campsite.

When the two finished laying out the beds, they joined us on the logs.

"No tents might mean the passengers weren't planning on staying," Sasuke voiced.

"There were nine boats, all shipwrecked," I could hear the quiver in her voice, "What do you think is going on, Kakashi?"

"Who knows? Remember, our plan isn't to solve whatever mysteries we may find. We just need to find this organization and see if we can gather any information."

We went ahead and consumed what Sasuke gathered before we were assigned fire guard shifts. Kakashi, Sasuke, myself, and Sakura. I really hated middle shifts. Why can't I either go to bed late or wake up early? Oh well, I couldn't argue with the logic. At the darkest times, we need Sasuke and Kakashi's sharingans. With the hidden beast, I was also good with detecting movement so Sakura had to take the early morning shift.

Sakura dosed the fire and all of us, minus Kakashi, went to our beds.

* * *

The next thing I knew I was being awakened by active, red eyes. "Dobe, it's your turn."

"No shit, why else would you try to get my attention," I snapped back. I got up before heading over to the wood line. "Is there a reason why you're following me?"

"Giving you a summary of what's out there right now. I have the eyes, dumbass."

"Sorry that I wasn't born Uchiha."

"That's not what I meant, dobe." We both jumped up into the tallest tree closest to our campsite. "There's a pack of wolves to the west, they've been heading north my whole shift. There's a campfire a few miles northeast of here but I don't see any people so keep that area in mind."

"Got it." I felt a surge of chakra leave my body as I extended my senses.

I pushed myself to the base of the tree branch to get comfortable. He looked back at me with black eyes once again.

"What did you promise Tsunade?"

"What?"

"What did you promise her?"

"That I wouldn't rip your head off."

"Like you could." He continued looking at me before I turned my head to the area of the other campfire. "What did she ask of you?"

"Look, she said to not make how I feel about you jeopardize this mission, alright? She said to be more like you," I clenched my teeth before looking back at him, "Apparently I was her only concern. That if only I were like you, this team would be perfect. Everybody thinks you're fucking perfect. Why else would they think to balance our team, they'd put me on?"

"Stop being a pussy about it."

"Excuse me?"

"All you ever do is complain about how people compare us."

"Yeah, 'cause I'm the one who cares about the person you are," my voice was practically dripping with sarcasm.

"You are."

"Are you done stroking your ego yet? I don't care what ha-!" I bit my tongue. I knew I didn't mean it. "I don't care what kind of person you are," alteration of what I meant to say but still true.

"You're bothered that I don't care about the individuals in the team as much as you do."

"Yes, I am! Now just leave me alone. The only times I get away from you are guard duty and sleep. What're you going to do next, whisper in my ear while I sleep to drive me insane?"

"I don't get that bored, dobe."

"Then why are you here?"

"Maybe because I'm trying to." He looked away to the direction of the wolves.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, "Wait a minute, trying to what?"

"Care! About the people in the team, not just the team as a single entity."

"Why?" It just all seemed suspicious. For three years we were all kept at least an arm's distance away. Why would he suddenly care?

He looked like he was going to respond but instead got to his feet. "Keep an eye out in the east, dobe." He swung down from branch to branch, returning to our camp.

I exhaled before looking back out to the forest. "Why did you tell me?"

I was quickly realizing that the nine tailed beast had a limited amount of chakra. It was nearing sunrise and Sakura hadn't relieved me yet. The distance of my senses was beginning to close in on me, I could no longer sense the wolf pack which, last I'd checked, settled in on their destination. The camping area, I had no sense of. I gazed down, it was still dark but I could see the faintest outlines of our camp. I looked back out to the camp before climbing down the tree.

I'm sure they'll chew my head off for leaving my post but at this rate, Sakura's senses are better than mine. I pushed out my senses too far and I was tiring out.

Dust picked up around my feet when I landed on the ground. There was movement to my right, turned and nothing was there. The left, the bushes shuffled and suddenly nothing. Two areas, three. An ambush. I jumped back up a few branches and saw that the movement limited itself to the bushes in front of my tree.

Suddenly nothing.

A mosquito bit my neck. I went to smack it away only to be met with a piece of wood protruding from my neck. I pulled it out and it wasn't a mosquito. A dart, a light green liquid dripped off of it. My feet lost feeling and I just fell.

All I knew was I just kept falling.

* * *

undertakenheart-"Chapter 1 of my latest work. It's been years since I've written anything that isn't school related and even longer since I've watched Naruto. Hopefully I was still able to portray the characters. I'm sure you've noticed that Naruto isn't a complete goofball. He's older, more mature, but I wanted to keep the key elements of his character. The others, I feel are pretty consistent.

I have the next two chapters completed already. Working on Chapter 4 but that depends on whether or not anyone even reads this so, let me know what you think. The longest I see this being is six chapters."


	2. Chapter 2

I groaned as I felt the ground dragging against my face. I turned my head upwards and was able to see what looked like cocoons hanging from the ceiling.

This was something strong, all I see is black again…

My body was being jolted every so often. Blood was rushing to my head. Nausea upset my stomach. I tried to open my eyes again. I looked up to only look down. I was so dizzy, I can't see straight. Where's the camp?

Black again.

It felt like it should be morning time. I went to stretch my arms to only be restricted. My eyes shot open, I looked down at my arms and saw myself wrapped up tightly in cloth. "Holy…" I gaged my surroundings. There were many other bundles like myself, except the faces decayed away a long time ago. "Holy shit, where am I?"

There were no windows, a few candles on the walls, and a horrible odor. It's not like I didn't know I was surrounded by dead bodies. My vision cleared a bit more. Some of the cocoons had small holes going through them.

"What the hell is going on here?" I wiggled in the cocoon a bit before I finally reached my pocket. Thankfully I still had my kunai. "Thank goodness, you're still with me babies." I maneuvered my wrist to cut through the cloth. It was getting a bit difficult, light headedness and the tight wrappings was probably the cause but I kept pushing.

"Come on, almost there," I can finally see the tip of the knife, "There we go." Sasuke would complain that I talk too much but in times like these, I need to. It's what keeps me levelheaded.

Thankfully, how I was wrapped up allowed me to maneuver safer. The cloth had been bound with rope, one casing wrapped around my ankles. I cut off before the rope and bent over to grab onto the rope before freeing my feet.

Now free, I swung over to the wall and ricocheted between the walls. I looked skyward again. There were a couple of the cocoons that had a lot of holes in them. Some of them had fallen to the ground.

"Maybe this has something to do with those weapons Tsunade was talking about." Looking at the bodies as I approached closer, there were some where parts of the head were messily separated from the rest of the skull.

The stench was beginning to overwhelm me. There was no fresh air in here. Just where the hell was this place. Making a mental note of the states of the bodies, I walked over to the entrance of the room. I grabbed a candle and held it sideways before advancing forth.

I need to get back to the camp. I'm sure they'll all be interested with what I've found.

From the looks of things, all the walls are rock, naturally carved. So I'm in a cave.

What felt like half an hour later, it seems like I'm in a cave system. Someone dragged me here but now it just looks abandoned.

Shit, wish I'd thought of creating a map of this place when I first left that room. I searched the ground for any type of rock that would leave a marking. Found one! I scrapped the right wall and kept moving forward.

The smell of blood was finally becoming faint I saw a dim light and had to fight against my instinct to run towards it. Upon closer inspection I found that it was the cave entrance. I ran up to the end of the tunnel, blew the candle out and pocketed it. Pressing myself to the wall, I scanned the immediate area. My senses were really weak now, even with the beast's help.

I caught the faint sound of a fire burning. Not too far away was a campsite, three men. They all had thick clothes so I can't tell whether or not they're armed. Best not to risk it.

I darted out of the tunnel and hid in a few bushes. When I gazed back at them, I was reassured enough to push upwards into the trees. I looked back down at the campsite.

He's looking right at me. One of them is looking right at me. I hid behind the tree. I can't just go to the campsite, oh shit. Is he a ninja like us? Can he use chakra?

But then what was that thing from before?

A sharp sound. A sharp, piercing sound. I almost jumped out of my skin. Not a second later, another followed it until it was a symphony. I carefully looked over the side of the tree and saw that the wolf pack had surrounded their campsite.

The men were pointing things at them. Whenever I heard the sharp sound, their hands would bound back slightly. The wolves were quickly falling around them. What just happened?

They're distracted, I need to move. I pushed higher into the foliage and used the sun's new position in the sky as my guide. Just in case they followed me, I went a roundabout way for a few minutes, stopping every so often to make sure no one was near me.

I stopped on a tree branch to check again. I can't here the sharp sounds anymore. Good thing to, my ears were beginning to ring.

Movement, my front. I turned just in time to be slammed against the tree trunk.

"Where the hell have you been?!" The irritated voice of my teammate whispered harshly.

"Could you let go me, I'm tired of being restrained at this point!" A whispered back and pushed him off me.

"Where were you? Sakura said she was going to relieve you but you weren't there?" He pushed me back to the tree trunk, "You seriously couldn't hold out for a bathroom break?"

He was back to being a dick I see. "Look bastard, Sakura was late for her shift. I was going to get her since my chakra was wearing out and I got ambushed, okay!"

Sasuke exhaled through his mouth before looking back where I'd come from, his eyes were red now. "They know where we are." I noticed the tightening of his jaw before he wiped his hand over his mouth. "Who knows how much of this island they've inhabited."

I looked back and shivered at the thought of what happened to those wolves…to those people in the cave with me. "I know you want to think about things like you always do, but I'd feel better if we regrouped."

His eyes were on me. I'm sure I looked exhausted. He grabbed at my shoulder briefly to get my attention. "Try to keep up," and he jumped from branch to branch. I rolled my eyes and followed.

It was like being unfriendly with me was in his blood or something.

* * *

"We need to leave!" Sasuke and I emerged from the foliage and saw that Sakura and Kakashi had already rolled up the bed sheets and found us all backpacks. "They know where we are. Didn't any of these boats have a map of this place?"

"They all crashed here," Sakura whispered, "I looked, Sasuke. There were maps with this island marked but not of this island specifically. Some maps don't even have this island on them."

"This place was a recent discovery of the village's. When the soldiers were finally able to push the terrorist group out of Sound, an anbu squad trailed them back to this place," Kakashi supplied.

"What happened to the anbu then?"

"Oh my god," I fell to my ass. Holy shit, what if there were anbu in there? What if they captured them? They're bodies were wrapped, I couldn't see their uniforms.

"Naruto?" Sakura approached me and rested her hand on my now perspiring forehead. "Naruto, what's wrong?" She peeled my eyes open, I didn't even know they were closed.

"The place they took me…the anbu could be in there."

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders, "Well if they're in there, maybe they can help. After so many months I'm sure they've been able to—."

"They were dead, Sasuke." His eyes turned to me, anger soon filled them. For once, it wasn't directed at me.

"I was wrapped up, they had me hanging from the ceiling," I looked down at the sand on the beach, like it would make me remember every little detail. "There were other bodies hanging, at least 50 others. But they were all dead. Most of them had these…little holes in them."

"How'd you get out?" Sakura inquired as she gathered chakra and placed it at my temple. I'm not sure what she's doing.

"The wolves…"

Sakura gasped and pulled her hands away. "What was that sound?"

"What did you get Sakura?"

Huh? I looked over at Sakura to only catch her gazing at me with a frightened look. "What did you just…do?"

"It was sharp, loud. And then those wolves died." Sakura looked up at Kakashi as he pulled her up, "It must be the weaponry we came here to find." She clenched and unclenched her hands. She was scared. "So what, this weapon makes loud sounds and those around it die?"

"If that were the case, Naruto would be dead." A shiver ran down my spine. That's the last thing I wanted to think about.

But it was right in my face wasn't it. I could've very well ended up like those people. They had me primed and ready.

"Dobe, snap out of it," his spiteful voice rang out. I was surprised when I saw his hand reach out to help me. I accepted and was pulled to my feet.

"We'll look into what you saw later. First we need to find a good base of operations. Out in the open on the beach wasn't the greatest idea." Kakashi ruffled his hair as he looked around.

"I was in a cave system. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more."

"This is good news," Kakashi nodded his head, "Let's get a move on. Keep to the trees. We don't know what these people have."

We started our way inland. We jumped up to the nearest tree branch and they started to fan out.

"Wait!" They all turned back. "Look out for any projectiles. Whatever they used was laced with something that knocked me out."

Kakashi gave me a once over and looked at Sasuke, "Stay with him and you two head west. Sakura, head east. I'll look north and stake out their locations."

"Wait a minute, why am I paired up with him again?" My thoughts were starting to clear up and I was beginning to feel demeaned. Why am I suddenly the weakest link on our team?

"Naruto, you're in shock. It doesn't mean anything. Everyone would feel the same after what you've been through." I don't even want to think about how Sakura was able to go through my mind.

"We don't have time for this, dobe. We need to find shelter. Worry about your insecurities later."

"I don't have any insecurities asshole! At least I try to make myself into a better person and actually succeed!" My hand slapped against my chest, "Why do I suddenly feel like I'm the outsider of this team? Anyone want to tell me what Sakura did to my head? Why I always have to be paired up with Sasuke? Is this to 'balance' the team again or do we all not have any faith in Naruto's abilities."

"Be quiet! Do you want them to hear us arguing?" It was practically a hiss that came out. Always knew the bastard was secretly a snake.

"The point is, I can handle myself!" I took off. Sometimes I wondered how much they valued what I offered to our team.

I'm tired. I'm always trying to keep the team together. I try to keep everyone happy, try to keep everyone hospitable with each other and any hostility directed towards me. I could handle it. But for them to keep me in the dark about things, belittle me…hell, if it was Sakura that had been taken, I would've been furious. I would've made sure she was okay, console her. I'd even do a fraction of that for Sasuke.

What I saw on their faces weren't condolences. They were worried about the mission, my exhaustion being their downfall, and themselves.

I lazy looked around and decided to slow down. What happened was getting to me. I'm thinking way too much into it. "Think logically, Naruto. Think about the team…just the team, like—."

Movement above me, I instinctively tensed before relaxing again. It was just the asshole. I looked up as he dropped down next to me.

"You followed me anyway."

"Direct orders."

I shook my head as I pushed forward, trying to keep a level head, trying to extend my senses. My abilities were getting weaker and weaker. Either I needed sleep or there was more in that stick than just something to knock me out.

"Whatever you saw scared you."

I stopped from my branch hopping and glared at his back, he stopped as well.

"Just to let you know, I'm not teasing you." His face was softer than usual. Anything is softer than a scowl, really.

"Masses of dead bodies can do that."

"Not the bodies. The weapon."

I let out a shaky breath, "It isn't just a weapon. They were weapons." I looked away from him, trying to keep my lips from quivering. "We're out of our league."

"What makes you say that?"

"Sasuke, an anbu team got captured. Probably killed from the state of the bodies in the…dungeon I was in."

"If it's coming from your mouth, it must be true." I glared back at him, he was being a dick again. "Naruto, relax. We're out of our element but we're capable. We'll adapt. Besides, I trust in your abilities."

He's teasing me again, it's like he has brief relapses of humanity before going back to who he actually is. "Four jounin got bested by these people. We're not enough. We need to find a way off this damn island. Start gathering resources to build a boat. Anything!" Before I knew it, I was up in his personal space, grabbing onto the front of his shirt.

His eyes were calm. I was no threat to him. But he doesn't understand, we need to be scared of what these people have. I'm not crazy being concerned about what might happen to us. With how quickly they took down those wolves", I don't want to see how well their weapons work on humans.

We heard the chirping signal from Sakura. I released his shirt before jumping in the direction the sound was coming from.

* * *

undertakenheart- "Took inspiration from a video for the opening scene. It was a very disturbing cinematic and thought it was great imagery for this. And thank you Narutopokefan. I am officially writing this for you."


End file.
